A few weeks ago I decided to meet with a fine arts advisor who works at the university I attended as an undergraduate. The reason: having graduated from my MFA program in January I need all the help I can, finding a job. And after speaking with her, talking to many of my peers and just having a general understanding of the precipice our still unstable economy is teetering on, I can see I am in the majority, not the minority.

According to my advisor, who has worked in the community for over ten years, I wouldn’t be able to adjunct where I live now, because my graduate program didn’t offer teaching assistantships, but the local university did, so I would be unqualified and non-competitive when competing against local graduates. The requirements to teach at the local public and private schools require months to achieve certification, and while I could file for emergency certification, most of the public schools have installed a hiring freeze. I could write, but with limitations, as many local and national publications are going the way of Borders: dissolving, disappearing, declaring the markets too hard to continue to face. And in a batch of irony, my advanced degree makes me overqualified to work in many areas. So where does that leave me, us, all the recent masters graduates? Particularly those with humanities degrees? My advisor’s recommendation: go back to school and get another graduate degree (only this time, one that is marketable).

Financially this seems rather counter-productive, and well, it begs the question: what are graduate degrees really worth? Is the edifying experience worth the cost?

Survey Says

According to a June 30, 2009 New York Times piece, “What is a Master’s Degree Worth,” “the debate presents difficult questions for young people, who face the most difficult economy since the Great Depression. Many have decided to go to graduate school, to wait out the storm. Several commenters on our forums even said they had no choice but to seek a master’s degree (and incur more debt), arguing that a B.A. today is the equivalent of having a high school diploma 20 years ago and more employers require a higher degree.”

Of the recent graduates I spoke to, including teachers, health educators, historians, poets, playwrights, archaeologists and fiction writers, there was certainly a strong consensus. Most felt that the merits, relationships, personal evolution, study and experiences afforded during graduate school were not ones that could be matched or regretted at any price. Most, similarly agreed they would absolutely repeat their graduate experience, though a few (also in my field—the fine arts) felt as though they might have pursued, as my mentor suggested, something with more marketability. But with the job market equally saturated with MBAs and JDs, should value perhaps be placed on love of study, rather than what nets the most money after graduation?

Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, in the same New York Times article, argues, “In a bad job market does it make sense for students to seek a safe harbor and earn a master’s degree? Absolutely: if they can afford it; if the debt from their previous academic work is not too great; if someone else is paying; if they seek to reinvent themselves.” Liz Pulliam Weston, a personal finance columnist for MSN Money, also weighed in with, “ In some fields, such as business or engineering, a graduate degree typically boosted income by more than enough to justify the cost. In others—the liberal arts and social sciences, in particular—master’s degrees didn’t appear to produce much if any earnings advantage. The Census Bureau has updated the data I used a few times since then, and the results are similar: certain graduate degrees just don’t seem to pay off.”

Interest vs. Finances Are Key

Some factors to think about when mulling over the decision to pursue a graduate degree: what is your current debt to income ratio, will this degree be worth the long-term investment, what kind of financial aid (including grants, fellowships and teaching assistantships) might be available. Some private schools, like Brown and Notre Dame, will pay for full tuition if you get into their highly competitive creative writing programs. Many graduate programs, like the University of Texas, offer extensive gift aid, fellowships or teaching assistantships that can greatly offset the cost of tuition. Additionally, many employers will cover partial or full-cost of tuition for a Master’s program if it advances the employee in their field.

And there is always the military: undergraduates who want to pursue a graduate degree and have a hankering to serve their country can often get assistance with their graduate tuition. Many public schools like Oklahoma State University and Appalachian State offer full tuition scholarships and monthly stipends through their ROTC programs. The full tuition comes with this caveat: an incurred commitment to the military branch sponsoring the student. For many that may be daunting, but it can also be the right fit (and price) for many students.

Ultimate Value

At the end of the day, while affordability is key, the true value in an education for most is the one we can recount confidently and with passion. You see, I loved my graduate experience, and count it absolutely as the best individual decision I have made in my lifetime. Though it may have been overpriced, isn’t most of what we purchase on a day-to-day basis? Talk to friends, colleagues’ families, and do the research. With so many options through distance learning, low-residency, and full-time institutions, a personal value match is sure to abound.

For more information on all graduate schools and their rankings please visit: usnews.com. For MFA program rankings visit: pw.org.

Article written by Jacey Blue Renner, for Moxy Magazine August, 2011. Photo credit: flickr.com user Jameskm03.